along the river

 

We followed a path along the river yesterday, certain that around the bend would be a trail leading down to the sandy shore. We followed a path along the river with our eyes ahead on the next bend, and then the next. We followed a path and followed a path and followed until very suddenly and unexpectedly, there was no path at all, and twinkling through the trees was the expanse of river. Not a grain of sand or shore in sight. 

The day seemed warmer, the path dustier and longer. Back we trudged. Back and back we trudged. And there, at the beginning, the grassy verge tipped over the sandy bank, down to hard packed shore and then mud flats along the river. 

Every wild animal that lives in B.C. had left its prints in the sand and we added our own.